Historica Canada Education Portal

Forces of Immigration

Overview

Immigrants who came to Canada in the late nineteeth century and early twentieth century were also motivated by similar push and pull factors that motivate modern day immigrants. Each individual, family, and ethnic group had specific reasons to move to Canada, whether they were pulled here by propaganda posters and stories about the uncharted territory or they were forced to leave their home country. Your task is to research a specific ethnic group that immigrated to Canada during this time period and determine the push and pull factors that motivated this group. You will demonstrate your learning by writing a case study, a story that contains historical facts.

Activities

Students will gain an introduction to this unit by brainstorming why they like living in a specific city/country. This can be done two ways:

a) Students complete brainstorming webs on the two prompts for homework, which allows them to ask their family why they moved to a specific city/country

b) Have students work in groups of three or four at the start of class and brainstorm their ideas on the two prompts on chart paper that is placed around the room

Brainstorming Prompts

· Why do people like living in Canada (or your specific city)? or What attracts people to live in Canada (or your specific city)?

· Some people do not choose to move – they are forced to migrate. What political/social/economic/environmental events in a country could cause you to move to a different city/region/country?

INTRODUCTION

1. Have students report back to the class:

a) if students completed individual brainstorming webs for homework, they could share their ideas with a partner or a group first and record down similar responses that will be presented to the class

b) if students brainstormed in a group on chart paper, you could do a carousel and have each group go around and read each chart and compare the thoughts of other groups to their own OR you could have one member of each group report out to the class

2. While the students are reporting out, the teacher can record each new idea/concept on an overhead, board, or large piece of chart paper.

3. As a class, have the students group ideas under certain overarching concepts: i.e. environment, education, employment, politics/government, religion, culture, family, etc.

· These overarching themes that they come up with are a great starting point to talk about the push and pull factors of immigration

4. Introduce the concept that certain events have an important impact on immigration: these events can attract someone to move to a specific area and/or force them to move away from a specific area. Underly the importance that all immigrants are impacted by push/pull factors: all are impacted by one of the factors and many are affected by both push and pull factors.

5. Begin by introducing the concept of PULL FACTORS in immigration: factors that entice someone to move to a specific city/region/country

· Have the students decipher what overarching concepts/themes they gathered from their brainstorming activity would attract/pull someone to move to a specific area

6. Introduce the concept of PUSH FACTORS in immigration: factors that cause someone to move away from a specific city/region/country

· Have the students decipher what overarching concepts/themes they gathered from their brainstorming activity would push someone to move away from a specific area

LESSON TWO

75 MINUTES (After this lesson, you can decide how much class time you will give students to research and write the case study)

SUPPLIES

Information sheet with website addressesAssignment sheet (optional and can be created by cutting and pasting info from the lesson below)Evaluation Rubric

INTRODUCTION

Immigrants who came to Canada in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century were also motivated by similar push and pull factors that motivate modern day immigrants. Each individual, family, and ethnic group had specific reasons to move to Canada, whether they were pulled here by propaganda posters and stories about the uncharted territory or they were forced to leave their home country. Your task is to research a specific ethnic group that immigrated to Canada during this time period and determine the push and pull factors that motivated this group. You will demonstrate your learning by writing a case study, a story that contains historical facts.

PROCESS

1. Select a group of immigrants that came to Canada during the time period 1850-1914. Here are some options to choose from:

2. Research the push and pull factors that influenced the migration of your selected ethnic group to Canada. Be sure to fully research the answers to these questions (look at all of the factors\events that influenced migration)

· What events were occurring in the home country at the time of mass immigration to Canada? (What was happening in their town or country that may have caused stress, grief, or death?)

· What was attracting immigrants to Canada? (What was being offered by propaganda posters, flyers, stories, and speakers?)

REMEMBER: WE HAVE ALREADY ADDRESSED THE OVERARCHING THEMES AND EVENTS OF PUSH AND PULL FACTORS. BE SURE TO REFER THE PREVIOUS WORK AS A STARTING POINT AND ALSO TO ENSURE YOU HAVE ACCESSED ALL OF THE THEMES AND EVENTS THAT COULD HAVE IMPACTED THE DECISION TO IMMIGRATE!!

3. Now that you have gathered all of your research on the push and pull factors that influence the immigration of a specific ethnic group, you must display your learning by writing a case study: this a short story, which seems fictional, but it contains historical information and facts.

a) Create a character: if you came across the name of an immigrant in your research, you can use this name. Otherwise, create a fictional person (child, woman, or man). Your character should be fully developed in the case study, which means you need to convey feelings, emotions, hopes and fears (you can do this through dialogue or personal thoughts)

b) Pick a setting: you need to have a setting in your story as a reference point. Here are some options: a) waiting for the boat to bring the immigrant to Canada b) travelling over on the boat c) first arrival in Canada.

c) Address the reasons for immigration: within your story you must explain why your immigrant left his\her country (what pushed and pulled your character to Canada)